The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1887-10-22
SPEECH OF SENATOR eoRMAN
Delivered at Mt. Carmel, baltimore
County. on Saturday, October
.. 1887.

more County. was told when l came to-day that |
this the old banner district of Baltimore coun
ty; that you had won the banner by faithful ad- |
herence to your party. l. therefore, could not re-
fuse to come came with the distinct understand
ing that was to meet you socially and talk to you
ten or fifteen minutes about affairs; to look You
in the face and ask you sensible earnest intei-
gent men, residents Of this glorious county whether
there has been any wrong committed by the Demo-
cratic party in this State in twenty years, which
would induce you to think even for a moment, of
turning it over to that party which ruled from 1861
to 1866 with a rod Of iron. But some Republican
will say: Why ifyou have managed the affairs of
your State well and honestly If you have dscharg-
ed your public duty you should, regarding 1t as
public trust-why is it that certain distinguished
gentlemen, all living within stones throw of St.
Paul street, Baltimore and claiming always to have
been Democrats, denounce your leading men and
denounee the acts of your party2 Your answer is
that after twenty years of Democratic responsibility
all the cayilers, all the disappointed men, all the
ingenuity Of the most astute Republicans aided by
the tactics of the keyhole knights, have not been
able to make single charge against any public Of
hcer. and cannot point 10 single act of extrava-
gance even in the administration of affairs There
is not State in the Union. governed in the last
forty years by Wing, Republican or Democrat, that
begins to compare, in point of honest administra-
ton in every department, with the grand old State
of Maryland. [Applause.l
Failing to find anything in the management of the
affairs of the State upon which they can legitimate
ly attack us, they take up as their last weapon
scandalous and slanderous personal viliieation and
abuse OF men, the latchets of whose shoes they are
unworthy 10 fasten. Claiming great respectability,
and standing high at the bar some of them do to
accomplish their ends they have adopted means
which would be scorned by any honest man who
had anything to say or to fight for. The difficulty
with these people is that the Democratic party has
failed to recognize in them the men who should
lead its affairs. and therefore has left them to their
private avocations for the last twenty years.
There is another class who have fought the Demo-
cratic party because that party since 1870 has en-
deayored through the Legislature to make them
discharge their full duties the State taxpayers
who have employed the most astue attorneys to de-
nounce and break down the acts and proposed acts
OF the Democratic Legislature intended to compel
them to pay their full proportion of taxation. Let
me trace for you briefly the history of the past
twenty years When you recovered your State in
1867 from the clutches of those who had crushed
you to the earth you elected Mr. Bowie Governor of
your State almost without opposition. The Repub-
lican party was mere myth, the colored people of
the State not then voting At the expiration of his
term you selected a gentleman, now upon your
State ticket, the Hon. VIM. Pinkney Whyte as your
candidate for Governor. Then some of these dis
tinguished gentlemen, who now denounee us as
ballot-box looters. hoped for promotion, but they
were passed over, and Mr.. Whyte became Governor
and woolford comptroller, and the ring, of which
you have heard so much III recent years, and of
which am proud to say am a member, was in
Annapolis taking up the constitution that the free
and endeavoring to make the corporations of the
State pay their full proportion of State taxation
We found there was one great corporation in the
State which under its charter was exempt from all
taxation; that the Court of Appeals had decided In
1913 that the exemption of thirteen million dollars
off stock exempted all Of It's stock, property and
franchises from taxation; that the charter was
contract between the State and the company and
could not reach it to make it pay its share of
taxation. This so-ealled corrupt ring then said
I'VE will try the experiment. and we passed acts
in 1877 and 1874 levying tax on the gross receipts
of all the railroads in Maryland. And right here,
don't think l am making war on railroads. You
ought to have one through this beautiful country,
and we would all be glad to come here much more
frequently. 1t was not fight against corporations
then nor is 1t to day. but we said that while your
farm and mine, your house and mine and all our
personal property were taxed, every corporation in
the State should pay the same tax, and when the
State in 1896 exempted this corporation from taxa
tion it meant that it exempted the thirteen million
dollars then required to build the road hut did not
mean to exempt the one hundred million dollars 1t
might afterwards acquire,
In 1870 before the courts had decided the validity
Of these acts, there was great row in this State.
There were few kid-goved gentlemen, who never
get down among the people, but who perfume and
applaud each other, and they started great reform
in Baltimore, and ]. Morrison Harris Republican,
was nominated for Governor, and Mr.. Wallis was
placed the ticket Attorney and all the
little lawyers that float around the headquarters of
certain corporation in Baltimore were chirping
then, now, ReforTnl Reform Reforml The
movement failed and the Democrats elected the
Legislature that went to Annapolis. We again
pressed the courts. We had then as Attorney Gem
eral Mr.. c. ]. NJ Gwinn, who had been the general
counsel of the baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com
nanY; and kneY II, in and out We asked the courts
for new decision, and decision was rendered:
THE old exemption stands good, but they have ae-
qured certain property such hotels for pleasure
purposes have built new roads, have invested in
lateral lines, which have not paid any taxes for
twenty years. and these must be included in the
basis for taxation" And from that day to this they
sion we have collected 100000.
The courts having decided that point, there was
no immediate necessity for reform, and you heard
nothing in 1877 ofa reform movement Mr. Kane
the friend of Mr.. S. Teackle Wallis, was nominated
by the Democrats as Mayor OF Baltimore. He was
the friend Of these very people, and as soon as we
selected man with these views the working men
Joined with the Republicans and came near beating
u.s. Mr. Wallis led that fight He believed 1t right and
the same election machinery was used then as now;
the same murderers they denounce to-day were the
representatives Of the Democracy in the various
wards them and Mr. Wallis and his friends were very
glad to have their aid and my own them because 1t
served their purpose. Then no reform W as neces-
sary.
1877 passed and 1879 came. For the purpose of al
laying differences the Democratic party with one
voice selected as It's standardbearer an old soldier
in the ranks who had come up from the people. 1
mean the Hon. William 7, Hamilton. We continu-
ed the legislation increasing the basis of taxation
and pressing the matter in the courts Now these
people wanted additional legislation las we had per-
mitted rival line to be built between Washington
and Baltimorel to put them on an equality with
this rival line and take off the capitation tax, and
il was this this sane corrupt ring which said to them
Submit your road and its gross receipts to taxation
agreed to by the Northern Central and all other
railroads in the State and when you do that we will
give you the relief you seek" They did it, and i'm
mediately afterwards another reform movement
began.
With 1881 came the question of the election of a
President We were now in the hardest fight since
1876 with the prospect of winning If we all stood
together and we appealed to every Democrat in the
land, rich and poor young and old to come and aid
We asked speakers to come to the aid of the
Democrats Of Illinois. Indiana. New York and other
Northern and Western States where the battle was
to be fought In the ranks Of these reformers stood
Wallis and Marshall and all the balance OF the
crowd. Those that were not rich were gifted in no
small degree as orators. The appeal went out, and
not man OF them ever responded. not one Of them
offered to say a word for Grover Cleveland or the
Democratic party. not one Of them offered 10 con.
tribute dollar. Old men and widows and children
sent their ntes-from ten cents to five dolars-and
with their money chiefly we fought and won the
battle. As soon as it was wor many of the gifted
gentlemen had pleasant things to say to me. have
been accustomed all my life to have harsh things
said of me- and am rather afraid Of the men who
hatter. We had representing this State in Washing
ton four true, honest Democrats in the House and
two in the Senate ready listen to every in tn
Democratic party in Maryland, and TO do all we
could to advance the interest of your State and
PASSING avar nur baada fhaea oor tia,,,o,,